I vividly remember the first time I started to understand what it meant to ‘dwell in the secret place’. I was drinking coffee with Sarah her kitchen while her three children played in the room next door. As we were chatting, Starzie, her three year old ran into the room and grabbed my arm, saying, “Come with me!” As she pulled me into the lounge, I was disappointed that my conversation with Sarah hadn’t continued as I still didn’t feel like I knew what the ‘secret place’ was. Starzie took me an gently shoved me into a small space they’d created between the sofa and the wall, cover with cloth roof and lined with a blanket. As I wiggled my adult-size body into their child-size den, Starzie whispered: “It’s the secret place!” BOOM.
Suddenly I realised two things:
- that I could learn theology from a child and
- that the secret place is a place you have to experience to understand.
Psalm 91 has continued to be one of my favourites, and I’m delighted to have created a mini-mag exploring it!
It’s the second in my series exploring the psalms (the first one being Psalm 13 with the theme: Longing.)
I’ve called the Psalm 91 mini-mag ‘Protected’, and as usual there’s 12 creative activities for families to use to explore the psalm together.
Inside the mini-mag are a bundle of inserts:
- two postcards with the words of the psalm on them (it’s a bit long for one postard!) illustrated with feathers – can you guess what the connection is? For me this psalm mentions two things which link to feathers. On the back of the postcards you’ll find instructions for two of the activities using the other inserts: the angel template and the mini-prayer book.
- a sheet of stickers to use in one of the activities, and in the Protected edition these are graphics and words of the promises you’ll find in Psalm 91. There’s a bingo activity you can play with them as well as using them to help you remember promises of God to you.
- an angel template to use to create something beautiful to display in your house to remind you that God commands his angels to take care of you. We often focus on angels around Christmas, but the Bible is full of references to supernatural beings, and it’s interesting to explore them a bit more outside of the tinsel and glitter of Christmas. What might is mean for God’s angels to take care of you?
- a mini-prayer book which comes in the form of a folded A4 sheet which just needs a few folds and one cut to become a mini-book. Its printed so that you can use it to note down your prayers daily, weekly or whenever you pray. When you buy a copy of the mini-mag, you also get access to a download version of all the inserts so that you can print extras if you need them.
In the centre of the mini-mag is a prayer poster and you also get a free family devotional: Exploring Protection in the Bible which gives you 8 stories to explore together. There’s Bible references, open-ended questions and a challenge for each.
I’ve collected a readings and songs of the Psalm for you which you can find via a special link, and there’s also links for downloading extras of the inserts in case you need them.
I’m focused on offering activity ideas which cover a range of learning styles and will work for people of different ages and stages in life, including a little section with ‘Something to ponder’, aimed at older children and adults.
I hope you’ll have a look at it – I think you’ll be delighted at the range of activities which will lead to a fun and thoughtful exploration of this wonderful psalm.
PS If you order a copy and spend less than £7.50 in my webshop, use the code hpppw to get half price P&P